Eyewitness (1981 film)

Plot

New York janitor Daryll Deever (Hurt) is an avid fan of television news reporter Toni Sokolow (Weaver). A wealthy man suspected of criminal connections is murdered in Daryll's office building and Toni suspects Deever knows something about it.

She keeps after him for information, a pursuit Daryll allows because he is romantically interested in Toni, and a "cat and mouse" game ensues. This convinces the real killers that Daryll does know vital information about the murder, so he and Toni end up with their lives in danger over this false assumption.

Cast

Production

The news equipment and promotional posters actually belonged to the real television station, WNEW-TV in New York, now known as the Fox owned-and-operated TV station WNYW Fox 5. Several station employees cameoed in the film. Sigourney Weaver, whose father Sylvester "Pat" Weaver had been a top network television executive, also worked for the station in order to gain experience. Today, both WNYW and the film are owned by Fox's corporate owner, 21st Century Fox.

Producer-director Peter Yates and screenwriter Steve Tesich had collaborated two years earlier on the film Breaking Away.

Hum To Mohabbat Karega, a 2000 Bollywood thriller-comedy film starring Karishma Kapoor and Bobby Deol was inspired by Eyewitness.

In the concert scene early in the movie, Christopher Plummer's character paraphrases a quote from Beverly Sills - "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."